The portion of the U.S. at least abnormally dry has risen from 55 to 80 percent over the last 8 weeks. The portion officially designated as a drought increased from 34 percent to 61 percent. (U.S. Drought Monitor, adapted by Jason Samenow)

This time last week, the Drought Monitor indicated drought in 56 percent of the U.S.; that number rose 5 percentage point since. U.S. drought coverage has worsened for eight consecutive weeks, climbing from 34 percent on May 15 to 61 percent as of July 10.

Both Colorado and Arkansas have the country’s worst drought conditions. About 70 percent of these states are suffering extreme to exceptional drought.

The dry weather has stoked wildfires in Colorado and nearby states.

“During the past 3 weeks, the year-to-date acreage burned by wildfires increased from 1.1 million to 3.1 million,” the Drought Monitor said.

In addition, the drought is having devastating impacts on agriculture in the heartland.

“In the 18 primary corn-growing states, 30 percent of the crop is now in poor or very poor condition, up from 22 percent the previous week,” reported the Drought Monitor. “In addition, fully half of the nation’s pastures and ranges are in poor or very poor condition, up from 28 percent in mid-June.”

Business Week reports Goldman Sachs has increased grain-price forecasts in response to the compromised growing conditions, and that corn prices have spiked 41 percent since June 15 in Chicago.

Latest U.S. Drought Monitor as of July 10, 2012 (U.S. Drought Monitor)

But the situation is worse as you head south and west where much of the corn is grown. In small pockets of southern Illinois and Indiana, exceptional drought has emerged for the first time in 12 years of records.

And not just agriculture is being affected. In Indianapolis, Mayor Greg Ballard declared a water shortage warning Wednesday, banning lawn watering the Associated Press reports.

Welcome rains may move into a portion of this parched region. In its outlook for the next 5 days, the Drought Monitor forecasts:

Moderate to heavy rain could be on tap for at least part of the areas covered by dryness and drought during July 11-16, 2012. More than an inch is forecast across a large swath from southern and eastern Texas eastward across the Gulf Coast and Florida, and northeastward through the lower Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Valleys, the central and southern Appalachians, and much of the south Atlantic states north of central Georgia.

Conditions in Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

The Drought Monitor indicates moderate drought has enveloped much of the D.C. metro area. However, the latest update was only through Tuesday morning so it did not capture the heavy rains that affected part of this area Tuesday night. At least for D.C. proper, the rain was probably sufficient to knock the classification down from moderate drought to abnormally dry. But in southern Maryland and near the Chesapeake Bay which got little or no rain Tuesday (and have larger rainfall deficits), drought conditions - no doubt - persist.

Jason is the Washington Post’s weather editor and Capital Weather Gang's chief meteorologist. He earned a master's degree in atmospheric science, and spent 10 years as a climate change science analyst for the U.S. government. He holds the Digital Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.

To pause and restart automatic updates, click "Live" or "Paused". If paused, you'll be notified of the number of additional comments that have come in.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.

Spam

Offensive

Disagree

Off-Topic

Among the criteria for featured comments: likes by users, replies by users, previous history of valuable commenting, and selection by moderators.